The cur­rent gov­ern­ment attack on arts fund­ing in British Columbia has pro­voked out­rage and con­cern in com­mu­ni­ties across the province.

Spotting a Russian Prime Minister and a fallen Soviet movie star in the grocery aisle.

A cheat sheet for hat sellers, from The Human Side of RetailSelling: A Textbook for Salespeople in Retail Stores and Students ofRetail Salesmanship and Store Organization by Ruth Leigh, published in 1921 by D. Appleton andCompany.

We plan, like architects to bring the outdoors in.

Youngsters doing jumping jacks,Olympic gold medallists—All across our metroplex

A storyteller travels to Winnipeg on the backs of prehistoric beasts named Maxwell and Minnie.

The secret to happiness is realizing that nobody gives a shit if you read philosophy in your pajamas at six o’clock in the morning.

Photographs that highlight the soothing but eerie simplicity of the Canadian suburban landscape.

On the solitary vocation of map-making.

Vishnu Dreams is a novel that combines Hindu mythology with the story of a family. In this excerpt, a boy is poised, terrified, at the edge of a diving board.

Stray dogs napping in Punjab and Rajasthan, India.

From Where People Feast: An Indigenous People’s Cookbook, published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2007.

John Doe tells the story of the day he lost his cola virginity, sneaking out into the woods to taste Coke and Pepsi.

A draft dodger takes a “fishing trip” to Canada and ends up overboard.

An excerpt from a Lonely Planet compendium of local idioms of the world.

Declaration of a Political Emergency. The state of the tar sands in Northern Alberta.

You will soon be more aware of your growing awareness.

Have you ever had a dry scalp and it’s itchy?

Rhythms and rhymes in homage to the brilliance of Glenn Gould.

Excerpts from Once a Murderer, published by Wolsak & Wynn in 2008.

I learned most of what I know about being a man from my Uncle Rob. Uncle Rob has never let the fact that I was declared female at birth get in the way of our male bonding, and I’ve always loved him best for it.

Gravestone epitaphs from The Final Word: the Book of Canadian Epitaphs.

A poem from The Invisibility Exhibit, published by Talonbooks in 2008.

Sculptures of rural Canadian life by a Saskatchewan artist.